Why Do We Have Denominations?

     Question to O. A.:  As a child, I was taught that my denomination was the only true one.  But as an adult, I’ve met many wonderful people from other denominations.  So now I’m confused.  Why do Christians have denominations?  Also, are the people in the different denominations all Christians?  J. G. in California.

     Dear J. G.:  Let’s answer your first question first:  “Denominations” didn’t exist among the original Christians, and they would have been condemned if they had existed.  Because denominations are divisions in Christianity, and divisions are signs of Spiritual immaturity.

     Paul, the First Century Christian teacher, taught that all Christians are part of the same Body of Christ (part of the same Christianity), and that there’s only one Body of Christ (only one Christianity), with the mission of doing what Jesus would do if He was still walking the earth.[1.  Adapted from Ephesians 4:4-6.]

     Paul said to all Christians in all generations:  “All of you are sons and daughters of God, and there’s neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female among you, because you’re all one in Christ Jesus.”[2.  Adapted from Galatians 3:26-28.]  Paul meant that all Christians are part of one Christianity – regardless of their nationality, age, race, gender, income, education, etc.  That’s why dividing Christianity into smaller units is a sign of Spiritual immaturity.

     Paul’s teaching should have prevented the Body of Christ (Christianity) from dividing against itself over the centuries.  But sadly, it didn’t.  Despite Paul’s teaching, denominations began to appear in Medieval times.  They started when Medieval priests such as Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Knox, and others, dropped out of the institutional Christianity that the Roman emperors had founded in the Fourth Century, and organized their own groups outside the institution.

     Luther and the others are called the “Reformers” in history books because they were trying to return to the Spiritual power of early Christianity.  But they failed.  They failed because their groups disagreed with one another – and then kept disagreeing with one another, dividing into smaller and smaller pieces.

     Today, there are hundreds of those small pieces, and they’re known as denominations.  (By the way, the word “denomination” is a Medieval Latin word that means a named division that stands alone and considers itself special.  That’s also a definition of Spiritual immaturity.)

     Now, to answer your second question, you asked if the people in the different denominations are all Christians.  That depends on how we define a “Christian.”  Christians were originally defined as people who are indwelled by the Holy Spirit, and whose inner spirits have been awakened to Spiritual life as new inner motivators.

     If we use that definition, some of the people in today’s denominations are Christians – and some aren’t.  That means we need to pray that all the people in all the denominations eventually become indwelled by the Holy Spirit and become Christians by that definition.

     Thank you for these extremely important questions.  They’re some of the most important questions that Christians can ask today.  Join us in praying for all Christians in all denominations.  Our world needs more Spiritually mature Christians.